Election Commission Dismisses Charges Of EVM Tampering As Baseless

Sour gripes.

Jitendra Prakash / Reuters
Members of the election staff sit in a room filled with electronic voting machines (EVM) at a distribution centre on the eve of the fourth phase of state assembly election in Allahabad, India, February 22, 2017.

Responding to Mayawati and Arvind Kejriwal's allegations that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) had been tampered in the recently conducted Assembly polls, the Election Commission on Thursday asserted that there was no merit in such claims.

Kejriwal and Mayawati's respective parties fared poorly in the Assembly elections in five states.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) said that the allegations were wild and baseless, as EVMs were not tamperable given the effective technical and administrative safeguards. However, ECI added that if any specific allegation were to be presented accompanied by solid facts, they would be looked into.

The statement comes a day after the Congress party and the Aam Aadmi Party suggested that the Election Commission needs to re-look at the use of EVMs in the electoral process until faith is restored in them.